Abstract:

The influence of the pandemic has been felt worldwide, influencing various markets to decline, some going bankrupt or on the verge of bankruptcy, but offering incredible growth opportunities for other industries, especially those that carry out their main activity in the online environment. In a brief analysis of the market we can see a significant increase in the e-learning market, due to difficulties faced by classical learning institutions as well as due to professional reorientation of employees to other industries. Also, trainings are an essential component in the professional development of employees within companies, as they are no longer physically possible, companies have refocused on using e-learning platforms for both internship programs and continuous professional development of employees. However, online training has problems in keeping the learners motivated and engaged, for which gamification strategies might be used.

Other domain experiencing huge growth is that of cryptocurrencies, as individuals invest for quick profit or financial security while companies see blockchain technology as a potential market disruptor and invest in them to be part of this disruption.

The current paper proposes an innovative e-learning platform based on gamification and blockchain technologies that promises better motivation in the learning process, especially at the individual level, and even profitability. Main innovation is the use of blockchain tokens in the platform, tokens that can be used to purchase courses and can be gained by completing courses, quizzes, and challenges. The payment for completing the challenges will be made with the help of smart contracts that will return tokens to the user with the help of a virtual wallet such as Meta Mask. Tokens can also be sold so that users can recover part of their investment. Such features motivate the user to complete the modules he has paid for, at the same time, stimulating him to continue his development through other courses paid with the accumulated earnings, through this method, the learning process is much more entertaining and involving for the user. We have chosen Ethereum blockchain technology for this platform as it is a mature, highly used technology stack, with good support for managing in-platform tokens.

Given the presented we can conclude why the potential of this product is a promising one with multiple development possibilities depending on the evolution of blockchain technology, for now the main topic of this project is to influence the average user of an e-learning platform to have the ultimate experience to learn, to feel stimulated to go through everything and to constantly develop new skills that will keep him relevant to the world.

In the paper we present the functional and non-functional requirements of the platform, focusing on the specific features of on-line learning and gamification. Based on those we elaborate on the general architecture of the system with an important part dedicated to the blockchain design and interoperability. The prototype of the platform is validated using a case-study, with different stakeholders, covering the main use cases.

Keywords:

e-learning, blockchain, token, gamification.